For growing design firms, marketing agencies, and companies who manage the websites or do the IT support for several clients, liaising with multiple website hosts, not to mention making alterations for clients when each is using a different platform can feel overwhelming. Over time it can also become impractical, as it can get disorganized and cost your clients more of your time as you switch over from one server to the next. Finally, managing multiple servers requires expertise using a variety of platforms and optimizing for them. If there is the option, why not streamline your business and transfer new and existing clients onto a single, unified WHM control panel. [Read more…]

It has been said that the title is the most important part of the article. And while this is true, even the best content can be hindered by very poor web design standards. There are companies like WSI that work on both sides of this equation, and it’s a holistic understanding like this which helps website and blog owners make the most out of their web traffic. [Read more…]

The objective of search engine optimization is simple: get atop search rankings for your target keywords. However, as with all simple things, the process of ranking on the first page of search results is quite complicated.

For those new to the SEO game, you will need to learn the technical aspects involved in applying the best practices and campaigns . This can be achieved much quicker if you can associate the process of SEO to a common activity that you have found yourself doing over and over.

If you have experience in the dating game, then SEO is definitely right up your alley.

Using the analogy of dating with SEO, you will understand the foundations that make for an effective SEO practice and campaign. [Read more…]

An infographic on web design trends was posted on TemplateMonster a short while ago. If you haven’t seen it, you can check it here. It shows how web design trends have changed over recent years.

Back in 2004 websites looked a bit different from those we use today. They featured cluttered designs with chaotically ordered elements. Quite often, the sites were overloaded with various visual effects. As a result, it was somewhat difficult to focus on the content and find the information in which you were interested.

During the same period of time, pale color schemes started growing in popularity. Actually, this approach turned out to be quite effective, and it’s no big surprise that it is widely used today.

Flash technology was also incredibly popular during those years. In the 2000s it was as important for web designers as CSS, Java and jQuery are today. Flash was the most effective solution to make a site look more alive and dynamic.

Since that time, IT has come a long way and evolved into a practical science. One of the trendiest directions of 2015 is material design. Originally, it was introduced by Google. Along with monochromatic colors and micro-interactions, the material design sites ensure a striking look and unmatched performance for any business project.

As mentioned above, TemplateMonster decided to return to the subject of web design trends and introduce the same idea in another format. If you are interested in this niche and want to know more about the evolution of web design, new ideas and trends, you are going to like what TemplareMonster has created.

Let’s take a closer look at what they have done. The company has released a deck of custom playing cards that illustrate the major web design trends of the last 12 years. Each card describes one particular trend.

How does one obtain one of these decks?

It’s simple. You can win a custom designed deck of cards by taking a simple quiz based on these trends. It starts on May 26 and will be available for one week only, so you’d better hurry up. Once you complete the test, share this news in social networks. Remember, the more actively you share, the more chances you have of winning a prize. So go ahead and get yourself a cool, custom-made deck for absolutely no charge.

And one more thing – those users who answer all questions correctly will get a custom-made badge – Web Design Guru, as a bonus.

There are different elements involved in the creation and development of anything that you wish to present to a target audience and ecommerce web design is no exception. Understanding them holistically as well as in some detail will help you provide inputs to your web designer. Should you want to do it yourself, this knowledge will be pretty handy to have.

Facebook on Friday started floating the user navigation bar at the top of the social networks web pages, even as users scroll down the page.

Under the old system when the page was scrolled the navigation bar would disappear and only reappear when users scrolled back to the top of the site, requiring one extra step while checking for new messages and browsing updates.

Among the features users will now constantly see on the left side of the bar are friend requests, messages and notifications and the search bar, while the right side features the home and profile anchor options and the account settings selector.

Facebook isn’t the first social network to employ such output techniques, Twitter uses a floating design to keep their navigation bar ever present at the top of the screen. [Read more…]

Facebook is officially reducing tabbed page widths to just 520 pixels, 240 pixels less than their current 760 pixels.

The new width shouldn’t surprise anyone, Facebook having announced the move in October 2009. The social network simple took their time to roll out the new width so administrators could get ready for the new page tab width.

According to Inside Facebook other parts of the site, such as popular Pages will continue to use 760 pixels.

Page owners will want to change any elements on their pages to 520 pixels as soon as possible to avoid awkward looking pages.

Take a look at page tabs now to see the new look when compared to other page width options for non-tabbed pages.

Glenda’s powerful presentation wasn’t the typical dry stuff of web accessibility. Dry? Boring? That’s not possible with Glenda around. She has a wicked sense of humor and used it in her PowerPoint presentation, accompanied by her voice program, Kate, which read her presentation out loud. I’ve never laughed so hard over such a serious subject as web accessibility.

Glenda has cerebral palsy. It restricts her movement and speech but it doesn’t impact her intelligence, though many have labeled her otherwise in the past. In her book, I’ll Do It Myself, she shared the trials and tribulations as well as the challenges of being a highly intellectual woman trapped in a body that just can’t keep up. I highlighted Glenda in How WordPress Changes Lives, showcasing how WordPress changed her life by giving her a voice that connects with people around the world through her blog.

One of the great points she made was on how to justify using ALT attributes in your blog images: [Read more…]

I had an interesting discussion with a client last week about when and how to implement a new blog design. She wanted to warn her readers that a change was coming, and take a few months to implement the changes step by step.

We talked about the process and created a timeline for the slow unveiling of the site design, a smart decision for those with a large audience, especially when making dramatic changes to the site’s navigation and content handling. Some audiences can handle it, and love design changes, but some can’t. They just don’t respond well to change.

We talked a little more about her readership, covering some basic web analytics such as where her readers come from, how they access the site (through the front page, single pages, tags and categories, or through aggregators, email or feeds), and I stumbled upon some stunning facts that shifted the entire game plan.

While her site gets a steady stream of visitors, several thousand a day, only 10% return. Of those, only three percent return to the blog at least once week. Honestly, that’s about 9 people a week.

A few minutes ago I followed a trackback to a lovely blog post about one of my blog posts. It was quite complementary and made some good points. I was in the middle of composing a reply when I glanced over to the sidebar and saw the listing of the most recent blog posts featuring what were clearly pay-per-post or sponsored post titles. Ick!

That was my first response. Ick. Yuk. Oooey gooey, as one of my nephews would say.

We’ve talked about a lot of different design detail clutter and distractions in the ongoing series, “WTF Blog Design Clutter“, but we haven’t addressed the issue of perception when it comes to inspiring blog comments and conversation.

It’s true that a lot of people comment on blogs for link bait and Google juice. While that may be true, what is unsaid about the importance of a blog comment is probably the most important consideration when it comes to commenting on blogs: Association by commenting.

A blog comment says you want to participate in the conversation. It says you are interested in the topic. It says you are supportive of the blogger. It says you are who you say you are. It says that the link in your comment form takes the reader to your blog, which should speak well of you and match the quality of the blog you are commenting on. It says you want to be a valuable contributor to the blogosphere and the world of communication. Right?